Additional Event Ideas

Either alone or in collaboration with each other, all segments of the legal community can implement programs to highlight the importance of pro bono work and to enhance the provision of pro bono services. This section lists programs and resources to stimulate your planning.

The Alabama State Bar developed the goal of having celebration events in every judicial district in the state. Working with local bar presidents and state bar commissioners, the ASB utilizes the districts as identifiable units in which to plan and implement more localized events.
Contact: Linda Lund, Director, Volunteer Lawyers Program of the Alabama State Bar, linda.lund@alabar.org

Bar Sponsored Legal Clinics: One-day clinics in an area of legal need in your community:

Law Jam 2 is a Battle of the Bands to raise funds to provide free legal aid to the poor and increase community awareness about the need for legal aid. All Bands selected to compete have at least one attorney in them. Net proceeds from Law Jam benefit Dallas' most comprehensive provider of free legal aid to the poor -- the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program, a joint pro bono program of the Dallas Bar Association and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. Created in 1997 when the Dallas Bar and Legal Aid merged their previously separate pro bono programs, this unique partnership brings together the volunteer and fund raising resources of the Dallas Bar Association with the legal aid expertise of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas. DVAP and the work of its outstanding volunteers have received local, statewide, and national recognition for their efforts.

The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program provides legal help through the use of volunteers on civil, legal matters, including benefits, consumer, employment, family, housing, landlord-tenant, probate, real property, tax, and wills cases. Assistance ranges from advice to full scale representation in court. The program sponsors an average of 16 clinics per month, including its Neighborhood Legal Clinics, Pro Se Clinics, and Wills Clinics.

Statewide Pro Bono Day of Service: In North Carolina, volunteer attorneys, supported by legal assistants, law students and staff members, provide free legal information over the phone at five locations throughout the state.

Plan a summit, forum, community education program, or other event focusing on a local issue that is being successfully addressed by pro bono attorneys. For example, in 2009, spotlight efforts to address:

Announce and Celebrate a New Signature or Collaborative Project: Work closely with a local legal services provider to identify either a substantive project you can tackle together, or a major piece of impact litigation on which you can co-counsel.

Pro Bono Breakfast:Law firms and Corporate Partners housed in the Bank of America Building hold a Pro Bono Breakfast. Posters and informatio are displayed all week in the building lobby. The event provides recognition of volunteer lawyers and improves public awareness of the valuable pro bono work done by the Firms and its corporate
partners.
By: Troutman Sanders LLP , Hunton and Williams LLP, and The Bank of America Legal Department
Contact: Dorothy Jackson-Stallworth: dorothy.stallworth@troutmansanders.com

Neighborhood Legal Clinic: located at a medical clinic in a poor Minneapolis neighborhood to provide legal services to the local community.
By: Leonard, Street and Deinhard
Contact: Theresa Hughes: theresa.hughes@leonard.com

Fellowship Program: provides an opportunity for associates to do several years of full-time pro bono before working as litigation associates
By: Holland and Knight: Chesterfield Smith Fellowship Program
Contact: Stephen F. Hanlon; shanlon@hklaw.com

Pro Bono Awards: make awards an opportunity to make donations to legal services or other public interest organizations designated by awardees
By: Baker Botts
Contact: Bill Kroger: William.kroger@bakerbotts.com

Host a Pro Bono Open House to recruit volunteer attorneys. Invite all local public interest and legal service organizations to have tables and posters.
By: Duane Morris LLP, Philadelphia, PA

The last day of the 2009 National Celebration of Pro Bono week will fall on Halloween. Use your creativity to plan a themed closing celebration.

Hold a pro bono recruitment fair with Halloween treats for those volunteering to take a pro bono case

Firm attorneys go trick-or-treating with bags or donation canisters marked "Donate to Pro Bono" Or "Legal Problems for the Poor are Scary. Give a Treat: Support Pro Bono"

Create a short video. Post it on YouTube. Then send the link to all prospective donors.

Suggested Screenplay

The doorbell rings on Halloween, door after door is opened to reveal:
o banker with foreclosure,
o sheriff's police ready to evict,
o process server waving paper work,
o creditors dressed as vampires, spouse demanding divorce
Each moment is punctuated by the scream of the resident.
o At the last door, the camera views the group of trick-or-treaters from the back as the door opens; this time they all scream and the vampires hide their faces.
o Last shot reveals a lawyer warding them off with his briefcase that has the words "Pro Bono Legal Help" on it.
o End with a donation plea.

Public Interest Career and Fellowship Symposium:
Global Social Justice Lawyering : Two day symposium focusing on post-graduate fellowships and public interest careers in a variety of potential practice areas.
By: Stanford Law School and Seattle University's Access to Justice Institute.
Contact:Susan Feathers, feathers@law.stanford.edu

Law Student Pro Bono Fair:
Provides an opportunity for law students to learn about public interest organizations for whom they could do volunteer projects.
By : University of Washington School of Law
Contact: Ann Spangler; spangler@u.washington.edu

Prisoner Re-entry Project:
The Prisoner Re-Entry Project is an opportunity for law students from all the Delaware Valley law schools to assist with legal intake for former federal prisoners working to put their affairs back in order. Together with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Magistrate Judges Timothy Rice and Felipe Restrepo of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania have developed a unique and innovative prisoner re-entry program called the Supervision To Aid Re-Entry (STAR) court program. The STAR program provides help to former inmates through a 52-week program in participants report twice-monthly to the Court, in addition to working with probation officers. Many of the participants in the Re-entry program have civil legal issues that they need help resolving. Law students conduct intake system to clarify legal issues and financial eligibility. Eligible clients are then represented by pro bono attorneys through Philadelphia VIP, pro bono legal services. By: Drexel University School of Law Contact: Karen Pearlman Raab: kpearlman@drexel.edu

Leadership in Public Service: Pro Bono Speaker Series
By: University of Maryland School of Law
Contact: Teresa Schmiedeler: tschmiedeler@law.umaryland.edu

Public Interest Film Festival:
Plan a film series providing students with an opportunity to discuss contemporary films within the context of their pro bono work.
By: University of Pennsylvania Law School
Contact: Arlene Rivera Finkelstein; arfinkel@law.upenn.edu

Pro Bono Expo A court-sponsored event to highlight volunteer opportunities in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Sponsor: Civil Court of the City of New York
Contact: Rochelle Klempner rklempne@courts.state.ny.us

Teach a CLE for pro bono attorneys on topics of significance to the Court

Corporate Counsel

The Merrill Corporation, a deposition service organization, established a program whereby a $25 donation is made to Atlanta Legal Aid in the name of a retaining law firm for completed depositions scheduled within a certain time frame.